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Monday, June 27, 2011

We just got back from our annual two week trip to San Diego which was a blast. The hard part about traveling is the aftermath of behavioral problems that young kids exhibit from being way off their normal routine.

Scarlett is no exception. She has perfected the art of letting us know things are out of whack. She has been spitting, scratching my face off, refusing to get dressed or get in the car, and flat out refusing to go to bed. She has brought me to tears on numerous occasions and we have only been back for 4 days now.

I am trying my damnedest to be a good mom and not respond with hysterics and spankings. I made up this fancy chart with 25 empty boxes on it. I explained to Scarlett that every time she does something good, like get dressed or get in the car with out a freak out, she earns a sticker. When every box is full, I will take her to buy a toy. She seemed to be very excited by this new reward chart and very proud when she earned a sticker.

The 2nd day of the chart, I walk into the kitchen to see why Scarlett was being so quiet. I found her with the reward stickers, filling in the empty boxes. I couldn't help but laugh as I explained to her how she cant fill in the stickers but she has to earn them. She then tried to explain to me, how she wanted to get a toy so needed more stickers...

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

As I get older I find I do more and more things that my mother did when I was growing up. The weirdest part is that these things drove me nuts when I was a kid. How did her behaviors get ingrained in who I am today? Will the same thing happen to my kids?

My mom has a thing against bright lights. She was always telling me to turn off the huge, bright kitchen light. You see I liked the lights and thought she was odd to have such an aversion to them. Now I am the one who walks into the bathroom to find the super bright light smacking me in the face with its illumination.

My mom always made me wear socks in the house, which drove me crazy. I did not understand why she even cared. Now in my ripe age of 33 my feet feel icky & gross when they are sock free. I cant handle the feeling of the cold kitchen floor with dust bunnies and god knows what sicking to my naked feet.

When I was a kid my mom had this annoying habit of making me 'boogie' on the way to school or pretty much anywhere. She would turn the music up and poke me over and over to the beat, telling me to 'boogie'. Ava knows that she is in trouble when my favorite song comes on and she is ordered to 'boogie'.

One special memory I have is how my mom and I would always go to the book store and she would always buy me a book. Often we lived frugally, but books never fell into this money saving category. The book store was always a place of fun. Now I find myself taking Ava to the book store and telling her she can pick a book. She is just starting to read and I am following my mothers example.

I wonder if my kids will grow up and find themselves doing things that I do?